


Life is Good (for you)

by shy_violet_soul



Series: Life is Good (for you) [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Platonic Relationships, Profanity, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 06:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16849165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shy_violet_soul/pseuds/shy_violet_soul
Summary: When Rae’s secret efforts to get some nutrition into the brothers’ diet is exposed, will Dean hit the fan?  Or will she find an unexpected ally?





	Life is Good (for you)

**Author's Note:**

> While I fully appreciate Dean’s love for junk food, dessert in particular, I also do enjoy eating healthy. I love the idea of Dean getting spinach snuck into his diet without his knowing! The purees and recipes can be found on the queen of sly-nutrition-adding’s website: www.thesneakychef.com.

     The pleasant richness of cocoa tickled her nose as the bouncing bass notes of “Lazy Mary” set her hips to swaying. Rae stirred her concoction to the beat, smiling as she sang with Lou Monte.

     “ _La lariula figghuiuzza mia, la lariula pesce fritt’e baccala_!” The boys would be home soon. Two weeks straight on the road hunting down a shapeshifter and she could practically feel the exhaustion in Sam’s voice when he called last night. She wanted to have something homemade on the table for them by the time they got back. A pan of brownies sat cooling on the long wooden table, a shaker of tiny rainbow sprinkles waiting for them. Chicken in the fridge, a bowl of bread dough rising studiously at the back of the stove, and an assortment of other ingredients lay on the metal work counter awaiting their recipes. The thought of their faces when they came home made her grin widen as she pulled a container towards her. And if she smirked a bit as she popped the lid off one of her secret ingredients, no one was here to catch her.

     When she’d finally had enough rest to recoup some working brain cells all those months ago, she’d been appalled at the amount of junk food Dean inhaled. Both boys worked their bodies enough to be able to eat what they wanted – neither carried an extra ounce on them, for sure - but the rate at which Dean hoovered in grease and sugar left Rae marveling that he hadn’t turned in to one walking mass of clogged arteries. Her diplomatic queries and test runs of green side dishes at the table had been met with sound rejection. But Rae wasn’t so easily defeated. She was the Mistress of Research, after all. A scant hour of time with the great god, Google, had produced her secret partner-in-crime: The Sneaky Chef. It had been tricky at first, working the chef’s nutritious purees into recipes – the boys had been home for several days during that stretch. She’d taken to waking at hours that put her college studying days to shame, just to chop, blend, and hide in secret after the boys had finally gone to seek their four hours of sleep. When they’d questioned her bleary state and shadowed eyes, she’d chalked it up to insomnia. Then, the moment of truth – she’d placed the first batch of “Brawny Brownies” on the library table. In her caffeine-hyped exhaustion, she had visions of Dean detecting the spinach and oat bran, and flinging the plate at her in scorn. And yet – miracle! He devoured two brownies before Sam realized they were even on the table.

     The man who once accidentally drugged himself with salted caramel pudding consumed actual, healthy nutrients.

     That had been the start of a fiendishly gleeful project for Rae. Her mad research skills went into overdrive as she loaded up a carefully-labeled Pinterest board with deceptively healthy recipes. And Dean never knew what hit him. Shredded wheat and ground pecans mixed in to pie crusts. Yogurt replacing heavy cream. Nutritional yeast bowing in for some of the cheese. Ground flaxseed for eggs. As she watched the brothers devour the homemade goodness, it touched something in Rae she hadn’t felt in a long while. Devilish delight, for one, at a secret. But more than that – a warm, sunshine feeling of gladness that she was nurturing someone.

     Life was good.

     As she tapped the spoon to get the last bit of Greek yogurt free, the tell-tale noise of the bunker door stopped her cold. Rae’s gaze fell on her array of illegal nutrition, and panic popped her eyes wide open as their voices echoed in her direction.

     “…I’m saying is, we stop for gas when the tank is half-full, Sam. Not three quarters, not seven eighths. Half!”

     “Alright, I’m sorry!” Sam’s put-upon tone floated to the kitchen as Rae flew into action. Greek yogurt and the bag of pecans got shoved into the fridge behind her carefully-fake cans of V8 she knew even Sam hated. The containers of sneaky purees got slung into the freezer behind her bottle of apple-flavored vodka that the older Winchester said tasted “like ass”. Her heart pounded in her fingers as she snatched up the cauliflower Dean had yet to figure out had been going into his mashed potatoes for the last two months.

     “This is why you don’t drive, Sam.” Bootfalls brought their voices closer, and Rae frantically chucked the vegetable towards the shelves. It swished perfectly with a spin to rival a basketball point guard, settling behind the bottles of condiments with a thunk and a rattle that made her cringe.

     “Whatever, Dean. We didn’t actually run out of gas.” “Only because Cas appeared in the back seat and woke me up. Rainbow? You here?”

     Rae barely swallowed her squeak at Dean’s shout, straightening the nerves out of her voice as she answered, “In the kitchen!” Dean appeared in the doorway, Sam hovering behind. Rae couldn’t help but answer their welcoming smiles with one of her own as Dean spread his arms wide.

     “There she is!” he grinned as he bent to hug her, lifting her up off her feet. She chuckled as she patted his back.

     “You’re home early!”

     “That’s because Mr. Lead Foot kicked me out of the driver’s seat,” Sam grumbled as he received his own hug. When Rae turned back, Dean’s eyes had drifted closed as he drew in a long, appreciative sniff. His gaze snapped back to her as a huge smile flashed his pearly whites.

     “Cooking? Are you cooking?”

     “Yup!” Rae hustled to her phone, tapping to pause the music when “Jump in the Line” blared out. A satisfied groan rumbled out of the green-eyed hunter as he crouched over the brownies.

     “God, I love this woman!” Scrounging for a knife, Dean pointed it at his brother before helping himself. “We’re keeping her, Sammy.”

     "You won’t hear any arguments from me,” Sam chuckled, peeking beneath the towel at the rising bread dough. “Honey wheat?” he asked hopefully, those puppy eyes at work. Shooting the taller brother a fond smile, Rae nodded.

     “Honey wheat.”

     “Shit.” Dean’s exclamation pulled her attention back to the table. The shaker lid had fallen off the container, and the sprinkles that weren’t now piled in a huge mound on the cooling brownies were dancing and bouncing all. Frickin’. OVER.

     “Dean!” groaned the baker, cringing anew at the feel of the tiny candies under her bare feet as she strode over. The smooth operator shot her his most charming, guilty smile as he tried to spread the sprinkles out in an even, half-inch deep layer over the dessert.

     “Sorry, Rainbow!” Rae sighed as she picked up the pan.

     “That’s okay, I’ll try to pour some off.”

     “No, you will not!” The offended hunter snatched the pan out of her hands, holding it away from her reach protectively. “They just got all dressed up, you can’t denude these beauties!” As if to further prove his point, Dean scooped a still-warm brownie into his hand and downed half in one bite. With a roll of her eyes, Rae shook her head, smiling when the sound of crunching sprinkles as Dean chewed reached her.

     "I insist you leave at least one of those well-dressed brownies for your brother. Now, dinner won’t be ready for a couple hours. You two go take a nice hot shower while I finish the pie.” Rae turned back to the work counter to see Sam studying the shelves with a strange smile on his face. A lump of returning nerves welled into her throat as Dean crowed behind her.

     “Pie! Oh, baby! Sam, take the brownies, I get the pie.” Sam grunted as his brother shoved the pan into his gut and headed towards the showers. His interest in the condiments broken, Sam thunked the brownies on the stove as he strode after him.

     “I like pie, too, you know!” A sigh of relief sagged her shoulders as Rae rescued the brownies. Both brothers had an addiction to long, hot showers, so she knew she had enough time to prep and use her secret ingredients unobserved. That was too close a call for a newly minted sneaky chef.

*************************************************************

     “Mmmm!” Dean’s moans of appreciation were borderline dirty as he took his first bite of the peach custard pie. Sam shot him a smirk as he lifted his own forkful.

     “You need a moment alone there, Dean?”

     “Bite me,” came the garbled response, prompting another pleased chuckle from Rae. Baked “fried” chicken, mashed potatoes with cauli blended in, and corn on the cob had been devoured by both men with such gusto, Rae’s face had warmed with a delighted flush throughout the meal. The loaf of bread was almost gone, Sam snitching slice after slice while Dean rhapsodized over the best fried chicken he’d ever had. The three chatted companionably over dessert before the guys began to flag as the grind of the hunt caught up with them. Sam stretched hugely before rubbing his belly.

     “Man, Rae, I’m gonna have to run an extra mile in the morning after that feast.”

     Dean snorted as Rae smiled, standing to grab plates. “Not me. I’m going to let my arteries soak in the goodness. This was real grease calories, not diner garbage.” Her back to the men as she began filling the sink, no one saw her devilish smirk at his words, Sam’s chuckle answering his brother. Chairs scraping the floor announced the brothers’ departure from the table. “Here, Rainbow, I’ll wash, you dry, Sam can put away.”

     Rae promptly waved the men away with a soapy hand. “Nope, you two are whipped. There’s plenty of dishes to be done another day.” Both men paused, hard pressed not to show their fatigue.

     “You sure?” Sam double-checked.

     “Yup, I got this.” Both men called their good-nights to her, and moments later, she heard their bedroom doors shut. As she returned to the table to collect more plates, a fond smile touched Rae’s face as she beheld the empty platters and bowl. Nothing like full bellies to make a girl feel appreciated!

*************************************************************

     More of a night owl to Sam’s early bird, Rae oddly found that the only thing she missed about mornings was sunlight. The lack of natural light in the bunker made it a little harder for her groggy brain to get going. Her fluffy slippers scuffed along the floor as she trudged towards the kitchen. The smell of coffee urged her on; the brothers were already there, Dean digging in the fridge with a pan going on the stove while Sam scrolled through some article on his tablet. “Morning, Rainbow!” Dean chirped with quasi-disgusting cheer for a fellow night owl.

     “Hey,” Rae rasped out as she plodded to the table. Sam sent her a sympathetic smile as she sat down, pushing a mug of coffee and her favorite flavored-creamer across the surface to her. Sighing with appreciation, Rae dumped a healthy swig of the caramel-flavored goodness into her beverage, stirring gently. “You’re a good man, Winchester,” she mumbled sleepily.

     “Thanks,” they both chorused, pulling a smile at the corner of her mouth.

     “Rae, where’s that extra package of bacon? I can’t make my Baconator French toast Dean-wich for us without it.”

     “Freezer,” came the yawning reply. Taking a fortifying gulp, Rae tried to blink some awareness into her brain as she glanced at Sam’s screen. “Whatchya got, Sam?”

     “Nothing yet. Just glancing around at news. Not really looking for a case, Dean and I figure we could use a break.” Rae nodded her agreement as she propped her chin in her hand.

     “Amen.” A sharp rattle of glass snagged their attention as Dean swore under his breath.

     “Why do you even still have this ass vodka, Rainbow?” Rae and Sam both turned to see Dean unfold himself from the freezer compartment he’d dove into, withdrawing two plastic containers. He frowned at them, trying to figure out the contents. “What the hell is ‘purple’ and ‘white’?”

     Rae’s sleepy cogs and wheels suddenly snapped into high gear at the sight. Her sneaky purees! Chock full of blueberries, spinach, white beans, and a number of other healthy things, Dean would probably start molting if he found out he was holding that much nutrition in his bare hands. Think, woman, think! A lie, any lie! She frantically swallowed past her suddenly dry throat. Her brain simply hadn’t had enough caffeine to channel any rational thought, and she could see her secret attempts to protect Dean from an LDL-induced stroke going up in flames.

     “Smoothie mixes. All I gotta do is add milk or juice. You want one? I’ve got some coconut water I could throw in for you,” Sam calmly rambled out, gaze still fixed on his screen. Dean gagged as he hurriedly shoved the containers back into place. Finally finding the bacon, he tossed it into the microwave to defrost as he muttered under his breath about “health nuts” and “evil”. As her heart rate slowly chugged back to normal, Rae stared at Sam blankly. Dimly, she realized her mouth was slightly agape and her hands were clamped so tightly on her mug that her fingers smarted. Had Sam just…saved her? Did he _know_? Stray suggestions and possibilities tried to marshal into her brain as she stared at the man.

     While she watched, Sam peeked over at Dean before glancing at her from beneath his lashes. Then, those heart-stopping dimples flashed at her as Sam gave her a conspiratorial smile. He calmly slid the tablet over to her, drawing her attention to the screen. ‘The Sneaky Chef’s’ website shone happily up at her, displaying a recipe for chili. He had added a doodled smiley face and a question in the margin. _Can you do this one next?_ Gradually, Rae realized she was not about to be outed and promptly ejected from the bunker for illegal usage of vegetables. As a disbelieving smile slowly grew on her face, Sam chuckled quietly as she gave him a thumbs up, snagging the tablet and opening up Pinterest before saving the recipe on a board labeled ‘Menstruation & Hormone Regulation’. Sam instantly knew she labeled it such to keep Dean out of it since they all frequently shared devices. As his own mouth dropped open, Rae sent him a sly, sleepy wink as she handed the tablet back to him. A deep, gleeful belly laugh burst from the man, catching Dean’s attention.

     “What?” Still chuckling, Sam reached over and ruffled Rae’s hair playfully.

     “Rainbow tickled my funny bone. You had to be there.” The microwave dinged, drawing Dean back to his task. Plopping slices of bacon into his skillet, he started whistling happily.

     “Ah! There’s nothing like the smell of grease first thing in the morning!” This time, both Rae and Sam started laughing uproariously. Tickled at the sound of their glee, Dean didn’t even question it as he smiled, digging out a fork. He and his brother were home safe with their favorite baker friend, the world was one less shifter, and he was getting the last slice of pie.

     Life was good.


End file.
